A CORONER is to write to BMW, the manufacturer of the Mini Cooper, following the death of an elderly woman after she was struck by a reversing car.
Marie Lewis (82), Church Gardens, Rathmines, Dublin, was crossing the road at Terenure Road East on September 8th, 2008, when the incident occurred.
The elderly woman, who was not crossing at a pedestrian crossing, died of head injuries sustained in the incident the following day at St James’s Hospital.
The view of the driver of the Mini Cooper, Emma McArdle, who was reversing on to the road from her parents’ driveway at the time, was partially obstructed by a left rear head-rest, which was elevated.
“There was a significant blind spot,” Garda Edward Davin of the Forensic Accident Reconstruction Unit, who carried out tests on the vehicle, told the inquest when it opened at Dublin City Coroner’s Court in October.
The volume of an internal parking sensor, which sounds when the car is in reverse, was barely audible over the sound of the radio at normal volumes, Garda Davin told the court.
A jury of three men and three women returned a verdict of accidental death under the direction of coroner Dr Brian Farrell.
The jury made a number of recommendations in relation to the car, including that the radio should cut off when the internal sensor is operating through the speakers and that the rear head rest should automatically drop when the car is put into reverse.
The jury also recommended the provision of a pedestrian crossing in the vicinity.
Dr Farrell said he would write to BMW and would also write to the Road Safety Authority and to any other regulatory authority.
He would also be in touch with Dublin City Council.
Ms McArdle told the inquest in October that she reversed out slowly and carefully. She said she checked the footpath, roadway and mirrors and saw nothing and that the audible warning device didn’t sound.
Ms McArdle then heard a “soft thud” and was advised by a passerby that she had hit a woman.
The passerby, Martin Creedon, told the inquest his impression was Ms Lewis did not see the car and the driver did not see the woman. “She kind of rolled over her. I realised the girl didn’t realise she had collided with the lady. I said take a deep breath, but you’ve just run over an old lady,” he said.
A file went to the DPP, who directed no prosecutions.
The coroner expressed his condolences to Ms Lewis’s son, Patrick Lewis, and to her daughter, Marian Byrne, who were in court and to other family members. After the inquest, Mr Lewis said he hoped the jury’s recommendations would be taken on board.
Last night a BMW Ireland spokeswoman said: “The current Mini Cooper is one of the safest cars in its segment. In 2007 it achieved the highest possible score in the Euro NCAP crash test.”
She added: “Safety is of the highest priority for the BMW Group and our vehicles are fitted with a number of driver aids, such as parking sensors, and these are thoroughly tested to ensure that they meet the most stringent safety requirements in a variety of driving situations.
“When we receive the coroner’s recommendations, we will investigate the details of this particular case.”